Learning And Teaching Knowledge Effectively

Learning And Teaching Knowledge Effectively

When you learn information it is important to arrange that information, in order to be able to retain the knowledge gained for a long time. One way to do this is to use a hierarchy. Basically you put your knowledge into a specific order of levels. The top level can be a more general term and as you move to a lower level you get to more detail.

Learning such a hierarchy as a whole creates new rail roads in your mind, and the roads extend with anchors to one another, so none of the knowledge gathered on those rails gets accidentally lost.

Here is an example of an exercise for someone who would like to become a Vet.

Learning And Teaching Knowledge Effectively

This exercise is for adults, but you can convert this into an exercise for children by using a more simplified hierarchy or just one top level.

You now probably know more about cats than you will ever need to know. Just by seeing that hierarchy, your mind already started to absorb the information. Use this ability of your mind to your advantage.

Try this exercise with any topic you would like to acquire knowledge on. Draw an image like that on a piece of paper about something you have difficulty remembering and you will see the results !

Start easy for the top level and get to more and more detail. Use a general term on the top level and two more detailed ones at the two bottom levels. Add a list of characteristics next to the circles, like I did with the anatomical structures, for instance. Repeat and recall the information of your image a couple of times, to retain the gained knowledge for a long time.